Hanover cat safe at home four months after running off

Robyn Pasqualucci of Hanover doesn’t know whether cats really do have nine lives, but she’s sure about one thing: they’re survivors. She was reunited with one of her cats this week, four months after the cat ran off in pursuit of a rabbit.

At least that’s the case for her cat, a 2-year-old black Angora mix named Winnie. In September, the feline disappeared into the woods behind her Hanover home, chasing a rabbit.

After weeks of fruitless searching, Pasqualucci had given up hope. She figured that if coyotes hadn’t gotten Winnie, starvation, a car or the elements had.

Imagine her surprise when, four months later, someone called to report finding a cat that looked just like Winnie.

“I got a call and found out she had been hanging around” the Nautical Mile seafood shop on Route 53, “dumpster diving for lobster,” Pasqualucci said.

Lisa Long, who works at the Nautical Mile, said Winnie had been staying around the shop for the last month. Long’s daughter, Lindsay, and some of her friends had been feeding the cat seafood scraps.

“The cat was eating well,” Long said. “The cat was too friendly and too needy, so I knew it belonged to someone.”

Long scoured the Internet, searching for cats fitting the seafood scavenger’s description. She contacted Pasqualucci Sunday after seeing Winnie’s picture on Cat Connection, the website of a non-proft group in Waltham where cat owners post pictures of lost or found pets.

A day later, Winnie was back at home. Though a little skittish and a whole lot skinnier, Winnie is healthy and very happy to be home, Pasqualucci said.

“I’ve never had a cat kiss my face, but that’s what she did while I was laying in bed last night. She was going to give me a bath with her fish breath and sandpaper tongue whether I liked it or not.”

Pasqualucci hopes her other cat, Lil Kitten, will have the same luck Winnie did. Lil Kitten, a 3-year-old cream and dark brown Burmese, disappeared just a few days after his sister.

“I’m not a crazy cat lady, but if I see Lil Kitten again, I would kiss him on his lips,” she said. “He’s a friendly, mellow cat with a jelly belly.”

Now that Winnie’s back at home after all this time, Pasqualucci’s not giving up hope on Lil Kitten. And from now on, she said, the cats will stay indoors.